What is drug court?

Treatment-based drug court is an alternative to incarceration for defendants who enter the judicial system because of addiction. Through a non-adversarial team approach combined with an intensive, judicially monitored treatment program, drug court offers defendants the opportunity to restore themselves as productive, non-criminal members of society.

A Drug Court has been defined by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs as having 10 key components: